ABSTRACT
The decision to focus on the metropolitan level in the three countries (Paris, Marseille and Lyon) can mainly be explained by the demographic significance that the urban reality has acquired on a global scale since the post-war period. The metropolitan cities constitute the territories that are most directly affected by the economic transformations that accompany globalisation. Economic and socio-political dynamics can also take place on the fringe, or even outside of metropolitan institutions, thus making it more difficult to address them, given that there are no clearly identified institutions responsible for them. The metropolitan level constitutes the functional territory within which the political and societal stakes are highest. Metropolitan citizenship refers to radical political processes that are expressed in a community-based form in contradiction with the former universalist definition. The theme of proximity and participatory democracy has had great success among elected representatives, from a managerial, social, and political standpoint.
